A Garden City lawyer who represented a white man charged with attempted murder in the beating of a black man has unexpectedly re-entered the case. The lawyer, Bruce A. Barket, said yesterday that a person or group he declined to identify had paid him a retainer to represent Austin Offen of Floral Park, Queens, in his retrial, which is to begin on Jan. 4.

Mr. Offen, 28, who is white, is charged with bludgeoning Shane Daniels, 23, of Riverhead, who is black, during a melee outside a Westhampton Beach club in May 1996.

Mr. Offen's first trial, in which Mr. Barket acted as a private defense lawyer hired by the Offen family, ended in a hung jury in April. Judge Joel L. Lefkowitz of Suffolk County Criminal Court later denied defense requests to name Mr. Barket as Mr. Offen's court-appointed lawyer in the retrial.

Mr. Offen then insisted he would act as his own lawyer if he could not be represented by Mr. Barket, but later relented and accepted a court-appointed lawyer, who was released from the case yesterday.

Mr. Barket said outside the courtroom that he had negotiated a fee to continue as Mr. Offen's lawyer in talks that began when the donor called him two months ago.